In our fast-moving world, it’s clear that business is changing quickly. Consumers are becoming harder to predict, and small and medium-sized businesses face the risk of becoming commodities. It’s more important than ever for businesses to find something unique to offer in order to stay ahead. No one wants to be left behind; instead, they want to be the ones leading the way. But who will help businesses face these challenges? A sales mindset shift is needed.

The customer’s expectations have changed.

Your customers expect more from salespeople nowadays. They want valuable insights, success stories, and advice to help them make informed decisions. To meet their needs, salespeople must shift their mindset. Without this change, customers won’t benefit, and time will be wasted.

Here is my top 10 list of things to avoid and advice on what to do for Customers who are in Why Change? or in Change to What?:

Buying Process	#	Avoid	Instead
Why Change?	1	Having a Me attitude	Adapt to a WE attitude
	2	Doing discovery for your benefit	Help your customer discover why they should consider a change.
	3	Having a solution to sell in your mind before the meeting	Understand the customer’s situation, their current strategies, their challenges and their performance – before the meeting.
	4	Leading the meeting with your products	Focus on how you can help your customer grow their business by narrowing down options.
	5	Telling the customer how good your company is	Ask who else has an interest in the conversation you just had.
Change to What?	6	Jumping to sell why us	Help your stakeholder discover what unique solution criteria are needed to achieve the desired business outcome.
	7	Moving to a proposal without understanding who is in the buying room	Enable your Change Champion with your insights to influence others.
	8	Moving to a proposal without identifying Hidden Competitors	Bring other stakeholders from Why Change to Change to What.
	9	Moving to a proposal without identifying quantifiable value for your customer as the outcome of change	Help your Change Champion build a business case for change.
	10	Telling your customer what makes sense to do	Help them discover what makes sense to explore.

Choose the more effective way of having a discovery conversation. We all want to be customer-centric, but when you are out selling…are you? Do you want to close a deal, or do you want to help your customer grow their business? Do you want to prepare an offer because you think it is the right time, or do you help your stakeholder build a business case for change? You see, it’s all in your mind. Selling is helping. A mindset shift is needed.